The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1887-11-10
OPINION OF THE supnEME COURT.

The decision OF the United States 'Bu-
preme court upon the petition for q writ
oil error in the case OF the Chicago anar-
chists was announced last Wednesday aft
ernoon by Chief Justice Waite in . long
and carefully prepared opinion, which oc.
cupied thirty.ive minutes in the reading.
The court holds in brief.
First-That the first ten amend nents
to the constitution are limitations upon
federal and not upon state action.
Second That the jury law OF Illinois is
Upon it's face valid and constitutional, and
that it is similar in it's provisions to the
statute OF Utah. which was sustained in
this court in the case OF Hopt va. the terri
tory Of Utah.
Third.That itdoes not appear in the
record that upon the evidence the trial
court should have declared the juror Sam
ford incompetent.
Fourth-That the object to the admis.
sion OF the Johann Most letter and the
cross examination of Spies, which counsel
for the prisoners maintained, virtually
compelled them to ttstiiy ~against them.
selves were not objected to in the trial
court, and that, therefore no foundation
was laid for the exercise OF this courts
jurisdictions a&
And 6fth-That the question raised by
General Butler in the cases of Spies and
Fielden upon the bases of their foreign ma
tionality were neither raised nor decided
in the state courts and therefore canno be
considered here. The writ OF error prayed
for must consequently be denied.
There was no dissenting opinion.
HOW THE ANARCHISTS RECEIVED THE NEWS.
When the announcement OF the result at
Washington was received,a note was sent up
TO Spies, telling him that the writ had been
denied, and asking IL he had any statement
to make In regard to the matter. Spies
wns sitting in his cell, busily en-
gagged with some manuscripts He
read the. note and then returned 1t
with a short 81 have nothing 70 say" None
Of the other men would say anything, either.
Within fifteen minutes after the verdict was
known eight or ten officers in citizens clothes
appeared. Two Of them stepped quietly into
the Jail and the others disposed Of themselves
In the criminal court building and about the
premises. The bailiff at the outer door lead
ing into the Jail court says he is instructed
to admit no one, but whether this applies to
the near relatives Of the d-eath-sentenced
men is not known. The streets about the
Jail are perfectly quiet. No crowd ave
gathered and no incidents Of any sort have
as yet occurred. The police are prepared
for any emergency, though they say they
have no fear of a uprising or open VIC
lenca Without any previous lntimation q
q rule rigidly debarring visitors from the
Jail was quickly put in force, and no one was
allowed to enter the building during the
afternoon except officers, reporters
and relatives Of the anarchists As
soon as the news from Washington had gen.
orally circulated through the city there was
a rush OF miscellaneous people to see the
condemned men before it was too late. They
entered the sheriff's Office in droves, but the
latch string had been Withdrawn. Loud and
long were the representations but the deputy
who guarded the way to the jail yard was
obdurate. Friends of the doomed men bear
ing baskets Of delicacies for them begged
admittance. The dainties were passed ID
but only relatives gained entrance. Sheriff
Matson said:
Thevisits Of other anarchists have got to stop.
Henceforth the doomed men will not be allowed
to have any more recreation hours. Personally,
i would like to grant them all the favOrs ] could,
hut / don't think It would be wise to do soss IL
may seem foolish, but ] don't want these men
TO cheat the gallowS by killing themselves.
Their friends might give them daggers or
poison, and although I know that II they should
want to kill themselves we would be pOwerIeSs
to prevent it, still / should not like to have II
said that if ] had attended to my duty the sui
Ctdee might have been prevented. F1